once trans people stop being a group that just exists on trashy TV, and start being people you work with, or your kid knows, or your kid themselves is trans, the comforting distance from the issue is gone and they start losing their minds

Yes, this. Also: the employee who starts talking back, the organizers and journalists who make demands on their own terms, the tenant who does a public callout when you won't do basic repairs. And that just won't do.